Soooo… these photos were not taken any time recently. They were taken when there were barely any leaves on the ground, and it was hardly cold. That coat is JUST FOR SHOW! It’s intense to think about that now, considering all the snow there is on the ground.. and how deeply I’ve gone into hibernation. I would definitely, on most days, prefer to not leave the house. There is so much snow and it’s so cold out. Eek!

But, as the title says, it’s been a minute. I’ve been all over the place on here, and I haven’t been even taking too many photos. Which was why these photos never got posted when I took them, also why there aren’t more recent photos to post. Oops!

Things have been exciting around here. We just celebrated my daughter’s birthday, I’ve been working hard on my little shop, and my husband has been working tons. Just not enough time in the day, y’know? But I love this space, and I hope to be writing more!! So please, stay with me! I’ll be back <3

I’m so ready for (more) summer weather! I took these pictures a few weeks ago, right before we headed off to the spray pad with our friends to frolic in the cold water there because it was SO. HOT. out. The last week has been all rain, basically all the time. Sad.

Hi friends! I’ve been kind of MIA lately, but it’s been for such a great reason, I promise! I’ve been preparing for several farmers markets that I am participating in this summer and I’m SO excited about them! That, in addition to our monthly May Market, of course! 🙂 That will be this Friday/Saturday and it’s going to be awesome!! Check it out at the link above to join the group!

Otherwise, we’ve been doing a lot of hanging out. Going to spray pads, to the park, it’s been a great summer so far!

It’s funny. Slightly more than a year ago, when I had only one child, I would take my outfit pictures when she was napping. Now I have two, and so I barely take outfit pictures ever… but when I get a moment to do so, I have an adorable little one crashing the photos! I love it. She wanted to pose the same way I was, it was a lot of fun, and she is an adorable addition to my photos.

I want to talk about this dress for a moment. I love how classic 90’s it is. And I especially love the buttons up the back. Except… they come undone SO easy. How embarrassing is it when you have just walked across the room and sat down, only to receive a text from your husband that your dress isn’t done up? Pretty embarrassing!! But I love the dress so how to prevent wardrobe malfunctions? Shorts underneath! I have a lot of bike shorts and they’re perfect for something like this because you can’t tell I’m wearing them, and no one will see my underwear… even if the buttons aren’t holding up.

Autumn picked her own outfit today, too! She really wanted to wear a dress and was so excited when she saw this one. And it’s so cute, I couldn’t say no! Plus, you can’t go wrong with matching necklaces, right? 😉

where the heck did March go though? I feel like it just started yesterday. Boom! It’s basically April. We’ve been so busy around here, I haven’t had time to think, much less write anything. I’m trying to get back into the swing of things, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Between taking care of babies, and making bonnets, and … let’s be real .. relaxing, it goes by so quickly and then all of a sudden it’s midnight and I’m exhausted.

I am finding myself in a little bit of a slump, clothing wise. I feel like this is basically what I wear day in and day out. It works really well for me. It’s comfortable enough to sit on the floor in when I want to play with my kids, and it’s flexible enough to nurse in, or wear out. But it gets boring to wear the same thing all the time. I need more structured pants. I love my leggings (which ARE pants, btw), but sometimes I feel more put together if my pants also have a zipper. Anyone else feel this way?

Now that Dressember is over (well, the wearing the dress bit anyway.. you can still donate for another week! Check out my fundraising page here), I seem to have gone back to my old uniform of leggings and whatever top I happened to feel like wearing that day.

But that’s not what I wanted to talk about today.

I wanted to talk about how I took an hour or so to get my baby to bed, only to have my toddler wake him up by yelling into the hallway from under her door. It’s a fun thing she does where she lies down next to the door and looks under it, and yells/screams into the hallway. So, if I’m in bed or downstairs, it sounds like she is actually in the hallway. Her voice really carries and she gets pretty good volume this way. So then, baby is up, toddler is upset, and husband and I take turns going from child to child trying to get them back to sleep. Toddler goes back to sleep pretty nicely, fancy that. Baby doesn’t fully go to sleep until midnight.. so basically, all the things I had to do in the evening tonight (such as meal planning for the week, this blog post, etc) are getting done after midnight. Mommin’ aint’ easy 😉

On the flip side, I got some AMAZING cuddles, and I played a lot of Disney Emoji Pop during that time haha

And just like that, Dressember was over and everyone was wearing pants again. But just because the dress-wearing is over, doesn’t mean the fundraising is! If you’re still interested in donating to the cause, you can find my campaign page here. We will still be raising money throughout January.

Here is how I wore the dress for the last week of Dressember

Dress: Tharnzies // tights: gift // necklace: Finity Handmade on etsy

necklace: Finity Handmade on Etsy // leggings: SweetLegs

I don’t have a picture for the 28th but there’s a boomerang on instagram!

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Going simple for the last few days. These socks are from Target

Sweater: gift // socks: Forever 21

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Hat and Mitts: Out of the Blue on Osborne // and I’ve had these boots and coat for so long I cannot remember where they’re from.

So there you have it! Another Dressember done 🙂 As a group, at this point, we have raised over $1.3MILLION USD!! It’s pretty exciting. We’re going for $1.5, so if you still want to donate, you can till the end of January!

The third week of Dressember was last week, and I must say, it’s getting harder to style this dress differently! You might notice that I am an outfit repeater in this post. Or, in the very least, I am an item repeater. I just know what I like I guess!

sweater: thrifted // socks: Forever 21
This day was a pretty rough day. I believe the night before, my children decided against sleeping. So it was a cozy day of rest.

sweater: thrifted // socks: American Apparel

This is one of my favourite sweaters. I am pretty sure that it is handmade, because it doesn’t have any tags or anything. I also love these socks. They go up pretty much all the way, and they are super thick and warm which is perfect for cold Winnipeg winters.

skirt: thrifted // socks: Forever 21

I got Aiden in on the fun this day! I did the classic skirt-over style. Makes it feel like I’m wearing something different, when really it’s the same dress 😉

sweater: thrifted // leggings: SweetLegs // necklace: gift

This was Christmas Eve Eve! I wore this to spend time with our friends, as per tradition <3

ugly Christmas sweater: gift // socks: American Apparel

Christmas eve! We did our Christmas eve at my aunt’s house, so that’s why it’s a different tree! Usually, everyone wears the “ugly” Christmas sweaters that my mom made. I didn’t actually wear this for that long there, though. It’s very interesting for little baby hands to grab and pull at the strings on it haha

sweater: thrifted // socks: American Apparel // scarf: gift
At the end of Christmas day! I was pretty tired 😉

The second week of Dressember went by, mostly, without a hitch. We celebrated Festivus with our family, and generally stayed the heck inside because it was C-O-L-D COLD outside. That random cold snap has now seemed to pass (for now), thankfully! Hoping Christmas isn’t too cold.

Here’s how I wore my dress this last week:

plaid shirt: thrifted // necklace: Finity Handmade

sweater: thrifted // tights: Black Milk

socks: American Apparel

sweater: thrifted // leggings: Romwe

shirt: Bluenotes

shirt: thrifted // tights: Target // belt: thrifted

sweater: Billabong

scarf: gift // leggings: SweetLegs

Dressember 2016 has been flashing by. There’s about a week and a half left of it. So far, as a collective group, we’ve raised over $700kUSD! It’s so amazing to be part of such a great organization, and I’m so happy to be able to contribute a little bit. Wearing a dress is the easy part, the work that IJF and A21 do, that’s the hard part. And the money raised will go a long way to help women who are stuck in human trafficking.

I was so excited when I was contacted by eShakti to review one of their beautiful dresses on my blog. The entire experiences was really fun. There were a lot of dresses to choose from, and it was difficult to make a decision. Plus, it’s really cool how easy it is to customize each dress and make it your own. I chose this dress because it reminded me of a Frozen/Belle crossover. It’s not a colour that I normally wear, but I love how bright and vibrant it is.

When it came to customizing the dress, there were quite a few options, and again, I had a lot of fun choosing what to customize. You could add pockets, change the hemline, change the collar, or change the sleeves. It was so easy to make the specific customizations according to my style. And, I really like how with eShakti, it’s not about a specific numbered size, and everyone has to fit into what that size is supposed to be. eShakti is based on your body, and your personal measurements. I really liked going through and choosing how I wanted my dress to look. My dress also arrived very soon after it was shipped, which was amazing. One of my pet peeves with ordering online is how long it can take, but this took no time at all to come. The quality of the dress is also really good. I feel like I’ll be able to wear this dress for a really long time.

And great news! You can use the code ‘alysalovely’ to get 10% off your order from eShakti.com! You can use the code until October 28, 2016, you can add it to other codes and use it as often as you like 😉
You can also check them out on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter <3

xoxo,
Alysa

I received this dress at no charge in exchange for my honest review, and all the opinions stated here are my own.

On the way out to the retreat last weekend, we stopped at the Half Moon Drive In for dinner. It’s such a cute little retro restaurant that I had to take some pictures. We both got double bacon cheeseburgers (which, I thought that meant it was going to be double bacon.. it was double burgers haha) and milkshakes. It’s a super cute restaurant and a definite must see in Manitoba (in my opinion). Plus, it was just fun to go get something to eat at an interesting and unique restaurant. And, I had never been there before. It was great!